Prior to her actress daughter’s untimely death on Friday, Anne Heche’s Christian psychologist 85-year-old mom had already survived three of her 5 kids and her husband.
The Six Days, Seven Nights actress died on August 12 at the age of 53, a week after being involved in numerous vehicle accidents. Heche crashed into an apartment building’s garage, then into a house in her blue Mini Cooper, causing her ‘severely burnt’ and ‘intubated’ in a hospital.
Anne Heche’s family has been troubled by horrific event, starting with the death of her infant sister Cynthia Heche due to a heart condition, followed by the death of her secretly gay patriarch Donald Heche from AIDS in 1983, and later that same year, brother Nathan Heche was killed in a car accident in New Jersey at the age of 18.
Susan, Heche’s elder sister, died of a brain tumour in 2006, at the age of 48.
The actress’s strained connection with her family became public with the publication of her biography Call Me Crazy in 2001, with Anne alienated from her mother as a consequence of her lesbian affair with Ellen DeGeneres.
Heche revealed in the book that she was sexually molested as a child by her dad, Donald. She further claimed that as a consequence of the assault, he gave her genital herpes.
Nancy Heche stated in response to Heche’s autobiography, she is trying to locate a place for herself in this work, a place where she as Anne’s mom do not feel betrayed or scandalised.
Both Heche and her older sister Susan disclosed in their own memoirs that Donald Heche maintained a strange double life.
At day, he was a closeted homosexual and God-fearing Baptist choir director; by night, he left Heche’s mom and four kids at home to hit gay clubs in Aurora, Ohio.
Nancy said in her book, The Truth Comes Out, that she and Donald tried using amyl nitrate, often known as poppers, to spice up their sex life throughout their marriage.
Don and she used the poppers together,’ she explained. They were given several tiny bottles of the dizzying liquid ‘to enhance their sex life’ when they initially went to Atlantic City and were staying in the house with Don’s business partner.
But she is a very non-gay wife lured into snigging the poppers as a novelty for their sex life, Nancy stated. It appeared to be harmless.
After reading an article on the popularity of poppers in the gay world, the Heche family matriarch concluded that both her husband and his ‘business partner’ were homosexuals.
Donald Heche became one of the first Americans to die of AIDS in 1983, barely two years after the deadly virus was discovered in a group of gay men.
The family’s turmoil did not end there. Anne Heche alleged for years that she was blacklisted in the early 2000s as a result of her prominent lesbian affair with Ellen DeGeneres.
Her mom’s connection looked to be on the blacklist as well.
Heche told the Tampa Bay Times in 1998 that her mom thought her lesbian relationship was a “sin.”
Nancy Heche told the Christian Broadcasting Network that her daughter’s friendship with Ellen DeGeneres seemed like a breach of an unwritten vow: They would never have anything to do with homosexuals.
Nancy said in a separate interview in 2009 that she thought she didn’t manage her daughter’s coming out in 1997 correctly.
She is sorry she didn’t understand how to deal with it well, she added. God was providing her with a chance. They have several successful attempts to connect. They were all learning how to deal with it. They cared about each other; how can one live that out when you disagree?
Nancy stated during the interview that she was a “advocate” for “showing love and respect to the homosexual community.” Nancy spoke at a number of homophobic conferences around the country the same year as the interview.
Nancy also stated that her husband’s doctor informed her that he was gay. They fail, she remarked. They betray one another. It’s a tragic tale. God has a lot to teach her. They are to act from a place of healing, not from a place of wounding. She felt insulted and deceived.
She also played down any friction between herself and her daughter, claiming that they enjoy a “normal mother-daughter connection.” They connect and they don’t connect, she explained. That is fairly usual. She has a developing, love relationship with her.
In a 2011 interview, Heche claimed that she has lately started to restore her connection with her sister after a 20-year fight. She came out to visit last week, and they’re having a lovely time in their friendship as they’ve become closer, the ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ actor revealed. They ‘ve both moved on with their lives.
Heche stated in the interview that she was still alienated from her mom. Heche said that when she contacted her mom to confront her, she hung up after hearing her mother say, ‘Jesus loves you, Anne.’
Forgiveness is a weird term for her, Heche added. She is fine with her mother living her life the way she wants, and she is fine with her not engaging in her life the way she wants.
Nancy Heche admitted in 2015, Anne has ceased talking to her. She took the choice to server communication.
She stated that she came to grips with the thought that her mom didn’t love her because of her performance in the 2004 TV drama ‘Gracie’s Choice,’ in which she portrayed an abusive alcoholic mom.
